In The State of Southern Illinois: An Illustrated History, Herbert K. Russell offers fresh interpretations of a number of important aspects of Southern Illinois history. Focusing on the area known as “Egypt,” the region south of U.S. Route 50 from Salem south to Cairo, he begins his book with the earliest geologic formations and follows Southern Illinois’s history into the twenty-first century. The volume is richly illustrated with maps and photographs, mostly in color, that highlight the informative (...) and straightforward text. Perhaps most notable is the author’s use of dozens of heretofore neglected sources to dispel the myth that Southern Illinois is merely an extension of Dixie. He corrects the popular impressions that slavery was introduced by early settlers from the South and that a majority of Southern Illinoisans wished to secede. Furthermore, he presents the first in-depth discussion of twelve pre–Civil War, free black communities located in the region. He also identifies the roles coal mining, labor violence, gangsters, and the media played in establishing the area’s image. He concludes optimistically, unveiling a twenty-first-century Southern Illinois filled with myriad attractions and opportunities for citizens and tourists alike. The State of Southern Illinois is the most accurate all-encompassing volume of history on this unique area that often regards itself as a state within a state. It offers an entirely new perspective on race relations, provides insightful information on the cultural divide between north and south in Illinois, and pays tribute to an often neglected and misunderstood region of this multidimensional state, all against a stunning visual backdrop. Superior Achievement from the Illinois State Historical Society, 2013. (shrink)

Development cannot be left to the "magic wand" of market forces alone. This observation has been vindicated by the dismal failure of the IMF/World Bank policies in Africa since the 1970s/80s. That development needs an active state participation and some deliberately dirigiste policies brooks no controversy. Interestingly, even the World Bank has begrudgingly come to accept the centrality of the state in development after peddling policies premised on market fundamentalism for decades. Consensus is now emerging in development discourses in Africa (...) that both states and markets do play an important complimentary role in the development process. The idea that this article canvasses is that both democracy and development need a robust, capable, democratic developmental state. A democratic developmental state operates in such a way that it leaves ample room for other key non-state actors to make their critical input in the development agenda and the democratization process. The article revisits the debate on the post-colonial state; interrogates challenges for democratic governance and sustainable human development; revisits the nexus between democracy and development in the context of Southern Africa. It further investigates the impact of the current process of accelerated globalization on the state, democratization, and development project in the SADC region. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to describe the consequences of state intervention at the local level after a destructive earthquake hit the south of Italy in 1980. The kind of intervention adopted, the amount of financial investment and the way in which it was distributed affected the social and economic equilibrium of the local community in terms of perceptions of trust, patronage and effects on development.

EBONY PATTERSON, RUBEN MARTINEZ, LAURENT CRENSHAW, KARLA R. WILLIAMS, LARRY BROWN, TIFFANY HALL, KRISTEN M.J. HARRIS, MICHAEL SMITH, KHYLA CRAINE, NYAH CARMICHAEL, SHANNA DUBOSE, EBONY DAVIS, NICOLE BREWER, KARLA HARLIN, BRIAN HARRIS, KATRINA GIPSON, CANDICE B.N. REYNOLDS.

Indicators of food sovereignty and food democracy center on people having the right and ability to define their food polices and strategies with respect to food culture, food security, sustainability and use of natural resources. Yet food sovereignty, like democracy, exists on multiple and competing scales, and policymakers and citizens often have different agendas and priorities. In passing a ban on the use of genetically-modified seeds in agriculture, Jackson County, Oregon has obtained some measure of food sovereignty. Between 2016 and (...) 2017 ethnographic research was undertaken in rural Southern Oregon where local community and State of Oregon priorities regarding the use of GMO crops are in conflict. This article presents ethnographic research findings about the expression and negotiation of multiple food sovereignties by civil society in rural southern Oregon and the State of Oregon via democratic processes. In particular, these findings illustrate the effects of socio-political power dynamics on local and state acts of food sovereignty, democracy and agrifood policy by analyzing what the different expressions of food sovereignty reveal for its implementation at the local level. (shrink)

This paper examines histories of postvaccinal breaks in immunity to rabies in domestic dogs between 1950 and the 1960s. It utilizes Veterinary and Native Commissioner's reports and newspapers in arguing that there is a gap in current southern African rabies historiography as it is yet to grapple with narratives about vaccine technologies. Current southern African rabies histories overly focus on white South African urban case studies. Focusing on the histories of postvaccinal breaks in immunity to rabies in (...) class='Hi'>Southern Rhodesia helps to explain why rabies became an ineradicable canine disease in southern Africa during this period. The paper focuses on the political economy of the mass vaccination of dogs, the costs attached to the Veterinary Department's decision to ignore other canine diseases in African areas, and how this, combined with other policy measures such as dog taxation, in undermining rabies vaccination campaigns. Overall, it shows that African dog-owners resorted to a myriad of responses to coercive rabies regulations. This complexity ultimately resulted in canine rabies becoming a difficult disease to eradicate. (shrink)

It is widely believed that gender role attitudes are more traditional in the southern United States than elsewhere in the nation. We examine this notion, using eight gender-related questions from the NORC General Social Survey data. Responses to these questions suggest that Southerners tend to hold more conservative opinions on questions about women in politics and employed women. On questions of whether employed women can be good mothers, however, Southern and non-Southern opinions are very similar. An (...) examination of how Southerners and non-Southerners answered the gender questions over time shows that attitudes in both regions have become more egalitarian. (shrink)

A wide literature in the sociology of agriculture has depicted the development of agricultural experiment stations at land grant colleges as part of a development project to improve agricultural productivity in particular commodities. Some experiment stations developed regional agricultural centers or stations to improve productivity and address local concerns, recognizing the importance of context in rural development. Through analysis of one such station, the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in Southern Illinois, this paper describes how regional agricultural stations played a (...) key role in the often conflicting agricultural programs of and following the New Deal. Changes in university structure from the 1970s to present and the current national recession have led to financial crises that have put these stations in a precarious position. Still, we argue that these institutions ought to be recognized as regional resources for a new era of agricultural development, and we suggest approaching that new era by building on the existing literature of community–university partnerships. (shrink)

This book utilizes various frameworks to explore race, language, gender, discrimination, identity, immigration, poverty, social justice, and pedagogy. The contributors highlight the importance of using critical perspectives in contemporary discussions about education in the Southern United States.

EU states agreed on 23 September to implement a refugee quota system which will distribute 120,000 refugees across the EU, despite four member states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia – voting against the proposal. Luc Bovens and Anna Bartsch write that regardless of the wider debate over whether a quota system is justified or not, it is vital that the ‘distribution key’ determining how many refugees are assigned to each state is fair. They argue that (...) the distribution key proposed by the European Commission is ill-conceived and regressive, and that a fairer system with recalculated quotas may go some way toward convincing the dissenting states to support the system. (shrink)

Perspectives of IVF users on their spare embryos is a less explored subject in the Indian context despite the country’s population and abundance of IVF clinics. We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews in a selected district of the Indian state of Karnataka. Seven individuals were recruited independently of any assistance from an IVF clinic. The interviews explored participants’ knowledge and perception of the spare embryos using a set of guiding questions exploring the theme of the informed consent process, (...) views on research, preferences for embryo donation, the role of family and the dynamics of decision-making, amongst other things. The interviews were qualitatively analysed using Corbin and Strauss’s grounded theory approach. Our findings reveal that the participants do not learn about the prospects of spare embryos from the very start of their IVF journeys, and they may not be informed about the various options available to decide the fate of the spare embryos. Irrespective of their views on research and moral perceptions of embryos, participants expressed a sense of responsibility and ownership towards their embryos and a general reluctance to donate them. Our findings have implications for guiding future inquiries on this subject, which can better the informed consent process and unravel the role of ownership in the ethics of spare embryos in the Indian context. (shrink)

Relying on textual, ethnographic, and environmental scholarship on Yemen and the comparative insights of research into fisheries in the premodern Mediterranean world, the present study surveys the types of marine resources that appear across a wide range of literary and documentary sources pertaining to Yemen during the reign of the Rasūlids from the early 7th/13th to the mid-9th/15th century. Although Rasūlid-generated texts pay relatively scant attention to fishing, they clearly demonstrate the interest of the Rasūlid state in both the subsistence (...) and commercial economy that fishermen procured. Moreover, when combined with the testimony of travelers and chroniclers and of iconography on a series of Rasūlid coins from the port city of Aden, these sources shed light on the inclusion of fish in Yemeni non-elite and elite diets, the place and roles of fisherfolk in Yemeni society, the maritime symbolism current in Rasūlid times, and ultimately the relationship between shores and inland centers of Rasūlid power. In aggregate this material suggests that the Rasūlid state maintained a symbiotic political and cultural relationship with fishing communities, which had direct access to and the primary role in harvesting and processing the resources in question, yet remain in the shadows of recorded history. (shrink)

The present essay deals with the fabrication of the imperial genealogy of the Southern Tang state. A means of linking the Southern Tang founder Li Bian to the Tang, it helped establish Southern Tang claims to the Tang heritage. Though no original fabricated genealogy survives, variant forms have been handed down through a number of texts starting in the early Northern Song period. These are discussed in terms of their plausibility, marking the Jiang- nan lu by Xu (...) Xuan as the officially accepted description and the Zizhi tongjian version as the most “believable” of all fake Southern Tang genealogies. (shrink)

_The goal of this study is to investigate the ethnic conflict in southern Kaduna in connection to eastern Ukraine, which has now spread internationally as a result of major countries' action on Ukraine's behalf. The Hausa-Fulani are Muslims, whereas indigenous Christian communities make up the bulk of the population in southern Kaduna. Although the root causes of the situation in southern Kaduna are multifaceted given their theological and sociopolitical undertones, they are primarily cultural and patriotic in the (...) case of Ukraine. The special status of the Russian language is a subject of heated debate among those on the side of Ukraine's government and opposition nationalists who are pro-Russia. The study's purpose dictated that premordialism theory be used as a working model. Ethnic activists and nationalists commonly employ primordialist ideas to explain and defend ethnic wars, like the ones under study (in southern Kaduna and eastern Ukraine). In addition to hoping that the United Nations is permitted to fulfil the purpose for which it was established so that peace can return to Ukraine, we also hope that the same can be achieved in southern Kaduna if the recommendations of the state and federal governments assigned to investigate the crisis are dusted off and implemented._ _In conclusion, it is hard to discuss peace in an environment rife with injustice and nepotism. More peace advocacy is needed from the main international political powers, but they can only do that if they allow the United Nations (UN) to function freely. Primordialist theories are frequently used by ethnic activists and nationalists to explain and justify ethnic conflicts, such as those in southern Kaduna and eastern-southern Ukraine, which is why this research supports the use of the primordial theory of ethnic conflict despite its flaws._. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe problem addressed in this paper is the need for fresh resources for enhanced ethical leadership in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa. To respond to that problem the paper uses two valuable but insufficiently known sources from the culture of the Sesotho-speaking people of southern Africa, now found in Lesotho and much of South Africa's Free State province. The first one is a set of concepts that pertain to sound human relationships. The second one is Basotho history in (...) the persons of the founding monarch of the Basotho nation, King Moshoeshoe I and to a lesser extent his remarkable mentor, Chief Mohlomi. A final section of this paper draws these sources together into a set of contentions about successful leadership in which ethical quality is seen as paramount. (shrink)

This article updates “The State of the Question in the Study of Plato” (Southern Journal of Philosophy, 1996) based on research covering the years from 1995–2015. Its three major parts examine: (1) how the mid‐twentieth‐century consensus has fared, (2) whether the new trends identified in that article have continued, and (3) identify trends either new or missed in the original article. On the whole, it shows the continuing decline of dogmatic and nondramatic Plato interpretation and the expansion and ramification (...) of the more literary, dramatic, and nondogmatic “new Platonism.” What was a growing insurgency twenty years ago can now be described as a, if not the, dominant approach. (shrink)

Public policy in post-apartheid South Africa has been characterized by a mix of state regulation and ‘neo-liberalism’. This article argues that this mix is rooted in the model of economic modernity adopted in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s, and underpinned by the institutions of a modern state. In an economy transformed by mining and subsequent secondary industrialization, the state played a central role in facilitating capitalist growth, including through the regulation of labour. I argue that, contrary to the (...) conventional understanding, the enduring characteristic of the political economy of modernization in South Africa was not so much the mobilization of cheap African labour, mostly migrants from across Southern Africa, but was rather the institutionalization of high wages and protected incomes for economic, social and political insiders. Anglo-centric institutions and conceptions of industrial and social citizenship were adapted to the colonial context in South Africa. The imperatives of both gold-led capitalist industrialization and the governance of a society in which the settler or immigrant population remained a minority required that the African population was excluded from most dimensions of this citizenship. But the institutions, discourses and ideologies associated with high wages (for citizens) continued to structure economic life in South Africa through and after the apartheid period. South Africa’s mode of economic modernization thus reflects the possibly unique interaction of a British model of economic modernization with the social, economic and political realities of a colonial society. (shrink)

Human–wildlife conflicts involving protected predators are a major social and environmental problem worldwide. A critical aspect in such conflicts is the role of state institutions regarding predators’ conservation, and how this is construed by affected local populations. These interpretations are frequently embodied in conspiratorial rumours, sharing some common traits related to wild and domestic categories, spatial ordering and power relations. In southern Chile, a one-year, multi-sited ethnographic study of human–animal relations in and adjacent to protected areas was undertaken, foregrounding (...) conspiratorial rumours concerning protected predators. Through an analysis of this study and related international cases, this article argues that the uncritical dismissal of rumours and the categories used to interpret such conflicts have detrimental impacts on the conservation of wild predators. Such rumours should be understood as significant comment devices within human–animal relations and the power dynamics that frame human groups affected by them. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to investigate about the differences and, if any, the similarities among the modern State and the mafia criminal organizations. In particular, starting from their definitions, I will try to find the differences between State and mafia, to then focus on the operational aspects of the functioning of these two organizations, with specific reference to the effect/impact that both these human constructs have on citizens’ existences, and especially on citizen’s economic lives. All this in order (...) to understand whether it is possible to identify an objective difference – beside morals – between taxation by the modern State and extortion by criminal organizations. With this of course I do not want to argue that the mafia is in any way justifiable or absolvable, nor that it is better than the State. However, I want to investigate whether there is a real, logical reason why the State should be considered by the citizens more desirable than the criminal organizations oppressing Southern Italy, from a strictly logical point of view and not from the point of view of ethics and morality. (shrink)

There is a scanty pieces of information regarding business activities amongst people in Eastern and Southern Africa. The official records show that there is still a limited business activities undertaken by people in the region. The wind of change in the late 1980s necessitated the national states, institutions and people to seek for a closer co-operation in business and other activities. Ethical issues have been on top of the agenda of every nation because of the perceived development and (...) improvement of business enterprises. Every national government in the region tries to accept such a challenge and device some measures to enhance regional and national ethics compatibility in business. Many institutions and various stakeholders in Eastern and Southern Africa are encouraged to participate and co-operate for the betterment of the region. (shrink)

This is an analysis of the shift in educational emphasis at the first state supported Black institution of higher education in Louisiana during its first three decades. The national emphasis on Agricultural and Mechanical training with the expanded Morrill Act of 1890 was embraced by the University. Thus it qualified and received the Land Grant funding and developed a progressive, well-attended program in Agriculture and Mechanical Arts. This article closely reviews and describes its inner workings, facilities, curriculum, and funding.

This paper reports on an action research project about organizational change by a regional food bank in New York State’s southern tier. While the project team initially included a sociologist, food bank leadership and staff, it expanded to involve participants in food access programs and area college students. This paper combines findings from qualitative research about the food bank with findings generated through a collaborative inquiry about a ten-year process of organizational change. We ask how a regional food bank (...) can change its approach to address root causes of hunger. Acknowledging that narrow, pragmatic definitions of hunger promote charitable responses, our collaboration is grounded in structural understandings of poverty that refuse to blame the poor or treat poverty as an accident. Decades-long economic restructuring, deindustrialization and a rise in the service economy have resulted in growing inequality and long-term demand for “emergency” food in New York State. We outline critiques by scholars and practitioners of the emergency food regime. Description and analysis of the organizational change efforts of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier combine discourse analysis, collaborative inquiry, interviews, and participant observation. Discourse analysis of the agency’s strategic plans documents changes in aspirations, exposure to new epistemic communities and repertoires of actions. Interviews with participants evidence impacts of the organization’s advocacy and education programs on people with lived experience in poverty. Through a participatory process, we developed a collaborative chronology of phases of organizational change. Collaborative analysis of organizational changes demonstrates new definitions of the problem, a shift in service focus, changing outcomes and increased funding for advocacy. While recognizing substantial constraints, this project contributes to evidence that food banks may shift their discourse and practices beyond charity. (shrink)

Students of the Papal State are understandably inclined to concentrate on those geographical areas in central Italy, from the Campagna to Ravenna, that were to become the more or less permanent Papal State of modern history, even though everyone acknowledges that papal claims and the reality of papal control within this region fluctuated widely throughout the centuries. Tuscany, southern Italy, and Sicily were sometimes claimed by the popes but not ultimately incorporated into the Papal State, and these areas also (...) receive due attention from historians of the Papal State. But papal claims also extended to other areas less frequently discussed, among them Sardinia. (shrink)

The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Volume 59, Issue 4, Page 475-476, December 2021.

A collection of photographs document the changing landscape of the manmade Salton Sea, from its beginnings formed by broken levees of the Colorado River, its heyday as a desert paradise, its overdevelopment and home to migrating birds, and its current state as an environmental battleground.

The modern state – First and Third Worlds alike – pushes tirelessly to expand mass education and to deepen the schools’ effect upon children. First published in 1991, _Growing-Up Modern_ explores why, how, and with what actual effects state actors so vehemently pursue this dual political agenda. Bruce Fuller first delves into the motivations held by politicians, education bureaucrats and civic elites as they earnestly seek to spread schooling to younger children, older adults and previously disenfranchised groups. Fuller argues that (...) the school provides an institutional stage on which political actors signal their ideals and the coming of greater modernity; broadening membership in the polity, promising mass opportunity in the wage sector, intensifying modern forms of school management, and deepening a presumed commitment to the child’s individual development. Fuller advances a theory of the ‘fragile state’ where Western political expectations and organisations are placed within pluralistic Third World settings, using southern Africa as an example of the dilemmas faced by the central state. (shrink)

This article examines the behavior of religious moderation in Indonesia, concerning local wisdom, social, cultural, and spiritual traditions. A phenomenological approach utilizing Parsons' structural functionalism theory identifies two generic concepts of structural functionalism: the system, function, and culture. These concepts facilitate interactions between actors and personalities, as well as unifying social systems. Culture can and does act as a component of other systemother systemss. The central argument in this article is that the concept of religious moderation, as observed in Palembang (...) and other regions of southern Sumatra, including Lampung, Indonesia, is not a novel phenomenon in religious studies. It can be traced back to Robert Bellah's work on civil religion. Bellah's conceptualization makes it clear that several factors contribute to the formation of religious moderation. These include traditions based on local wisdom, religious symbols, and state commitments. (shrink)

It is of concern that, until now, Western and Southern theories have not been able to provide a full conceptual understanding of the complicity of the elites and states of former colonies outside the West with the political domination they suffer from their Western counterparts. Decolonial thought, by exploring global epistemic designs, can fully explain such political dependency, which, for Aníbal Quijano, results from the local elites’ goal to racially identify with their Western peers (self-humanization), obstructing local nationalization. (...) We explore why the racially dehumanized local elites believe they can humanize themselves. Our claim is that this happens because of modernity’s pretense that everyone can become civilized and, thereby, human, hiding the fact that hu(man)s are only heterosexual men that are simultaneously Western, white and Christian. Only by focusing on the enunciation of Western knowledge, instead of on its enunciated content, can we make that argument. (shrink)

Spirit possessions, trance, and other forms of altered states of consciousness are fascinating manifestations of brain states that are often seen as alien or exotic in Western media and discourse. Yet, these experiences are very common for a large number of humans around the world. In this paper we use a predictive processing perspective to examine spirit possession in Taoist rituals in Southern Thailand. These rituals involve tens of thousands of spirit mediums that enter into trance and (...) perform various acts of selfmutilation. These activities can shed new light on how sensory input is modulated and reinterpreted through top-down expectations driven by cultural narratives and frameworks. Our key argument is that, instead of being exotic and different, these states of altered consciousness provide us with powerful insights into how the mind and perception work in a culturally constructed world. Considering the role of culture as providing input into a common human cognitive architecture allows for a deeper understanding of the various facets and expressions of communalities in altered states of consciousness across human populations. (shrink)

This article challenges dominant explanations in the comparative political economy literature on the origins and purposes of social protection. Far from being a tool of working-class mobilization, social protection in southern Spain was strategically employed by a left party to politically demobilize its supposedly “natural” constituencies. This peculiar outcome is the result of a setting that is common in welfare states outside of northern Europe: the context of a divided left, in which parties and unions are seeking to (...) mobilize different constituencies and in which left parties are themselves divided between moderate and far-left groups. The result in Spain was that social policy became a weapon in parties' efforts to undermine their political competition. This suggests the need to rethink the received wisdom about what the welfare state does to build working-class power in the context of a divided left. (shrink)

Abstract:In 1965 the “beautification” movement, spearheaded by “Lady Bird” Johnson, ushered in a new phase for American utility companies, under increasing pressure from environmentalists, regulatory bodies and the public, who protested against the continued expansion of energy facilities. In response, utilities such as Southern California Edison, incorporated aesthetics into their corporate strategies to manage an increasingly strained relationship with their consumer base. This ranged from painting infrastructure to launching new design models for transmission lines and converting overhead lines underground. (...) Far from universally welcomed, Southern California Edison's beautification programmes were often met with resistance in communities, due to economic costs being passed on to the consumer. This led to an extensive debate about who benefited from the aesthetics of the energy landscape: was it the utility company, the developer, the homeowner, or the communities in which they were set? Considering three distinct groups with an interest in the aesthetics of the energy landscape, Southern California Edison, federal and state regulatory bodies, and homeowner groups, this article examines how the battle over the visibility of energy infrastructure was set within the social and urban politics of Los Angeles in the late 1960s. By throwing into relief this set of competing interests, it explores how the aesthetics of the energy landscape was not unitary, but fractured along conflicting political, social, and class-based lines. It argues that energy aesthetics was less the experience of the eye alone than a reflection of broader powers struggles within community, state and nation. (shrink)

The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Volume 59, Issue 3, Page 270-308, September 2021.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Rome and Baetica: Urbanization in Southern Spain, c. 50 B.C.–A.D. 150Leonard A. CurchinA. T. Fear. Rome and Baetica: Urbanization in Southern Spain, c. 50 B.C.–A.D. 150. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. xii 1 292 pp. 3 maps. Cloth, $75. (Oxford Classical Monographs)The Roman province of Baetica has not received a comprehensive treatment since R. Thouvenot’s Essai sur la province romaine de Bétique (Paris 1940; 2d ed. 1973). (...) Since then, important epigraphic finds such as the Tabula Irnitana (AE 1986, 333) and archaeological excavations have greatly modified our understanding of the structure of Roman cities in this province. Fear endeavors to assess the urban phenomenon in Roman Baetica in light of this new evidence. Rather than “Urbanization,” his subtitle might better have read “Urban Change,” since Baetica had already been largely urbanized by the Carthaginians and Iberians, and the real issue is how the native cities were affected by the Roman presence. The author himself concedes that Baetica had a “native urban tradition,” whereas there is “little firm evidence that Rome pursued an active urbanizing policy” (27–29). He also shows that while Romanization may have been passive from a Roman perspective, the inhabitants were actively involved in “bottom-up” initiatives to improve the status and amenities of their cities.An introductory chapter surveys Baetican geography and examines an anthropological model of colonialism. Since Fear later questions “whether the premisses of such a model... are in fact of any use when looking at the life of a Roman province” (274), it is unclear why he includes it at all. The next chapter discusses the characteristics of an ancient city, and (with a range of examples from Britain to Palestine) how urbanism was diffused in new areas. Listing the features of a city mentioned—but incidentally, rather than as a definition—in the Digest, Fear examines to what extent these are reflected in the laws of Urso and Irni. This seems an artificial and otiose exercise, since the colony of Urso and the municipium of Irni were unquestionably cities, even if the Urso law, for instance, contains no reference to bath houses. Moreover, Fear’s tendency to use interchangeably the terms “town” and “city” obscures the issue of urban definition; the pre-Roman oppida of the Baetican highlands may have been towns, but were not cities.Chapter 3 investigates the state of urbanism (including colonies like Carteia and Corduba) in southern Spain around 50 b.c. Fear challenges conventional opinion by discounting the conventus as a major factor in urbanization and by questioning whether mining brought large numbers of Italians to the province. He also shows that while the legends on local coinage were Latinized, the designs (bull, Melqart, Iberian cavalryman) remained pre-Roman. The next chapter asks whether the Late Republican colonies were really miniature replicas of Rome, as Aulus Gellius (16.13) suggests. Fear argues that while the colonies did imitate Rome in such features as law and public architecture, they were “content to adapt native structures” (104) in other areas. This was because the Baetican colonies were not founded on “greenfield” sites (such as Emerita in [End Page 143] Lusitania) but were superimposed on indigenous settlements, thereby including a substantial proportion of Spanish incolae who inevitably had an “Iberianizing” influence on the colonists.The chapter on the Julio-Claudian period is primarily an analysis of the elder Pliny’s list of Baetican privileged towns. Fear finds very few cases in which we can state with certainty whether municipia were of Roman or Latin status. He also maintains that the distinctive cognomina assigned to the cities did not confer legal status (contra M. I. Henderson, JRS 32 [1942] 6, who saw them as “flowery colonial titles”) but simply helped distinguish between homonymous place names. Chapter 6 considers the impact of the Flavian Municipal Law, which Fear sees as a general blueprint, a lawyer’s vision of what life should be like in a municipium. As such the law makes unrealistic assumptions, for instance (in the section on enrollment of iudices) that all the residents will have tria nomina. As for the effect of the law on the inhabitants... (shrink)

The article addresses the relationship between party systems and welfare state regimes in Europe. It argues that the European party systems show a systematic variation with respect to the electoral success of communist parties – which is argued to be related to the intensity of past conflicts between the nation-state and the Catholic Church in the mono-confessional countries of Europe's south. The article presents empirical evidence for the manifestation of the pro-clerical/anti-clerical cleavage in the party systems of Southern Europe (...) and sketches the consequences for the political economy of these countries. The article demonstrates the impact of religious cleavages on the shape of social policy in a country. The Southern European variety of the welfare state differs markedly from the Continental and Northern European varieties, with fragmented and particularistic provisions, decentralized occupation-based social security, strong insider-outsider cleavages and a weak state. This testifies to the broad range of meanings the "social" may assume. (shrink)

Crises of forced migration are, unfortunately, nothing new. At the time of the writing of this paper, at least two such crises were in full swing – mass movements from the Middle East and parts of Africa to the E.U., and major movements from Central America to the Southern U.S. border, including movements by large numbers of families and unaccompanied minors. These movements are complex, with multiple causes, and it is always risky to attempt to craft either general policy (...) or philosophical positions in response to salient crises. However, both of these instances do bring to the foreground important questions about the proper purpose and extent of refugee protection as a means of dealing with crises of forced migration. In particular, both of these instances force us to consider what role persecution on the basis of a protected ground – race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion – ought to play in granting refugee protection, and whether our response to those in danger should change if the agents of persecution are non-state actors. This paper is not primarily about the problems arising from Syria or Central America. In a way similar to how hard cases make bad law, I contend that a too central focus on salient crises tends to lead to bad theory and often to bad general policy. However, if I am successful in my goal of clarifying the place of persecution and non-state action in refugee protection, then we may in turn be better able to think clearly about our current crisis situations. -/- In this paper I will first draw on my previous work on the normative logic of the refugee convention to argue that, while persecution should play an important, and even central, role in our thinking about refugees, this importance is shallow and pragmatic rather than deep and fundamental. Next, I will show how this conclusion supports the claim that harms amounting to persecution by non-state actors may ground an asylum claim, at least in some cases, both when the state is unwilling and when it is unable to protect its members. I consider two cases: first, instances where the authority and power of the state has been usurped by another power, and second, when the state has (implicitly or explicitly) delegated its power or authority to non-state actors. I will show how this leads to extending asylum to a broader range of people than traditional accounts would. -/- (To download this paper, please use the link from SSRN below.). (shrink)

From colonialism to a neocolonial state -- Law and court : the making of familial ideologies during the Colonial era -- The making of the new Yemeni woman -- "This is our customs and traditions" -- Social maps and a mystery -- Morality, causality, and social praxis.

The World Conference on Human Rights that was held in Vienna in 1993, marked an important beginning in the recognition of reproductive and sexual rights as human rights. Among other goals, the Vienna Conference sought to end gender discrimination in all its manifestations; gender-based violence, sexual harassment, and sexual exploitation. However, the turning point for the development of reproductive and sexual rights was the consensus that emanated from the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994, and (...) the Fourth World Conference on Women in held in Beijing 1995 as evidenced by the programs for action that were adopted.The Cairo Conference defined reproductive health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes.”. (shrink)

Samuel Thomson , a New Hampshire farmer, devised a form of medical treatment that became popular in the United States for about three decades to the middle of the nineteenth century. Thomson relied on steaming and botanical substances—mainly cayenne pepper and lobelia—to increase the body's temperature and restore health. He practiced on others, acquired a patent for his medicine, sold a “right” to others wishing to practice his methods, and formed the “Friendly Botanic Society.” In 1822 the first of (...) many editions of his New Guide to Health; or, Botanic Family Physician appeared, along with A Narrative of the Life and Medical Discoveries of Samuel Thomson. His practices were lucrative: even to buy the New Guide to Health at $2, a follower must already have purchased a right for $20. Going well beyond self‐help medicine, his publications also demanded reform in education, politics, religion, and attitudes to class and gender, among other spheres. Thomson's followers then produced their own books and journals, spreading Thomsonianism among reform‐minded Americans from North to South and into the Midwest.The People's Doctors, by John Haller, assumes that readers know this story and its context. The book opens not with Thomsonianism but with phrenology. A quotation from Daniel Drake, a prominent physician, seems then to herald a sophisticated study of this sect as an antiestablishment group of reformers. As Haller points out, such a study would be a prolegomenon to the later history explored in his three other books on American botanic medical practices. Instead, The People's Doctors primarily documents the development of Thomson's sect in three parts: “The Man and His Medicines,” “The Middle Years,” and “The Diaspora.” The central chronology is framed by two four‐page sections that introduce and explain Thomson's role in the history of American medicine. Ten appendixes present organizational records of Thomsonianism .Steeped in Thomsonian journals, this study demonstrates their richness for historical investigation. Thomson appears here in a gentler historical light than that of untutored lay healer; indeed, adopting modern terms, Haller portrays Samuel Thomson as a pioneer in the concept of a national prepaid health‐care plan . These journals also reveal the extent to which Thomsonianism was not monolithic, despite Samuel Thomson's bids to control both his medicines and his followers: by the late 1830s, “new light Thomsonians” emerged to pursue improvements on his original botanic medicines.Reliance on Thomsonian journals and Thomson's autobiography simultaneously leads to the adoption of the views of those studied. From the outset, for instance, the study refers to “Dr.” Thomson; it is some time before the uninformed reader learns that Thomson was not a doctor in the usual sense. The eventual split among followers is attributed in part to Thomson's having become “an angry old man” , drawn “deeper and deeper into petty quarrels,” who “seemed too opinionated” —despite evidence that, from an early age, Thomson had an unbridled urge for control exercised through lawsuits, defamation of character, and ostracism. More important, this reliance raises questions about context. The sect's publishing, organizing, and educational activities are not connected to the activities of mainstream medicine in the same period. Haller situates the sect historically only in his last section, “Reassessment,” but without citations; in fact, other studies on Thomsonianism are relegated mainly to the acknowledgments, with many excluded from the bibliography.A rich and potentially rewarding subject for social historians, Thomsonianism reflected intricately woven assumptions about reform issues in a turbulent period in American history. Haller has contributed an internal, organizational perspective on the sect that may aid future researchers. Yet while his observation that the “history of Thomsonism is illustrative of the divided soul of American sectarian medicine” may be true, we need a broad‐based, balanced history to be able to evaluate it. (shrink)

This article surveys the state of the literature in English‐language scholarship on Heidegger's early work (1919–29). The survey falls into roughly two halves. The first is devoted to scholarship on Heidegger's intellectual development during the 1920s, focusing on four themes: Heidegger's relationship to Husserl; Heidegger's early phenomenology of religious life; Heidegger's appropriation of Aristotle; and Heidegger's retrieval of Kant's First Critique. The second half focuses on work on the early Heidegger that has arisen out of the reception of his early (...) thought into mainstream Anglophone philosophy. It examines Hubert Dreyfus's interpretation of Heidegger, the status of “das Man” and social normativity, Heidegger's concept of death, Heidegger's conception of authenticity, and truth (with a very brief overview of further topics). (shrink)

Explores five fault lines in the fledgling field of responsibility theory, serious methodological disputes traceable to P.F. Strawson's "Freedom and Resentment.".

The focus of this paper is the correspondence between George Frederick Holmes and William Gilmore Simms. These two outstanding individuals had one of the more memorable friendships and collaborations in the intellectual history of the South. Holmes was a literary journalist, critic, essayist, commentator, appraiser, analyst, moralist and reviewer whose output in these forms over a long career was prodigious. He was as an outstanding contributor to various journals and periodicals, some of which were edited by Simms and within which (...) the southern intellectual discussion was to a large measure carried on. In 1844 Holmes submitted a series of letters to Simms who at the time was the editor of the "Southern Literary Messenger." Holmes wished to use his old friend's magazine in order to excoriate his age for its devotion to magazines and periodicals and to discourse at length on how these journals have a corruptive effect on literary standards and taste. In his guise as a literary critic Holmes is writing to an editor who is a great writer in his own right in order to stress upon their readership the importance of adhering to the highest standards of the literary tradition in the face of the rise and growth of popular literature. (shrink)

This article is based on the premise that the social and political foundations of the geopolitical entity known as the Irish Free State was of a conservative nature, unique in Western Europe. Of course, conservative forces also featured prominently in the early twentieth-century in other European countries. However, they were counterbalanced by forces of opposition sufficiently powerful to generate a social and political balance that was practically nonexistent within the Irish Free State. When exploring the root cause of Ireland's conservative (...) politics, I identify an ideological connection between the lack of radical forces in the Irish Free State and the revolution through which it was established. In other words, the 1916?23 Irish Revolution indisputably laid the foundations of the ideas that were to become the dominant ideology in southern Ireland during the 1920s and 1930s. (shrink)